A true revolution does n't come every day . The word `` revolution '' appears all around us , in commercial advertisements and political propaganda , until it seems to have lost all meaning .

The most minor tumult , the smallest change , and immediately we pronounce the word . And so when the real thing arrives , with tyranny and blood , with masses striving for freedom , with an ancient regime destroyed and a new one born , we might just fail to see its significance .

The spark that began the revolution was something called Europe : a trade agreement with the European Union that many Ukrainians saw as a chance to enter a world of free trade rather than government syndicates , and the rule of law rather than overwhelming corruption . When President Viktor Yanukovych , after months of promised , rejected the deal in November , Ukrainians protested .

The students were the first to reach the `` Maidan , '' the main square of Kiev . They are the ones who already considered themselves Europeans , and took a European future for granted . After the riot police were sent to beat them , they were joined by the `` Afghans , '' the veterans of the Soviet war in Afghanistan .

Then came the businessmen , the professionals , the people who had hoped to make an honest living , but found themselves thwarted by unpredictable taxes and corruption . In December , hundreds of thousands of people , from all parts of the country and all walks of life , were on the streets .

Then Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared with a proposal . Why not take 15 billion euros from Russia instead of playing around with Europe ? Although the Russian side promised that the loan was without conditions , Russian leaders then explained that disbursements could only follow when political stability had been established .

In January , President Yanukovych formally did away with basic freedoms . A package of legislation introduced by a pro-Russian legislator and rushed illegally through parliament introduced a number of laws that closely resembled Russian models . Ukrainians reacted as Americans would if the Bill of Rights one day disappeared .

After weeks of peacefully tolerating beatings , torture and disappearances , some of the protesters took the fight to the police . Once again Moscow made clear that the next tranche of the loan would depend upon political stability . Last week a truce was declared , and a day of mourning announced for the protesters who died . On the day of mourning , the Ukrainian government mounted snipers on rooftops . They shot dozens more protesters dead .

The Ukrainian protesters did not do what most of us would have done . They did not run away . Instead they came in ever greater numbers . They did not react with a bloody counterattack , as well they might have . They simply , and amazingly , built their barricades , stood their ground and said they would give their lives for their freedom . At this point , the world began to react -- finally . The Polish and German foreign ministers arrived to negotiate the transition that many people had wanted for weeks : a weakening of the Yanukovych 's power and accelerated elections .

` We were trapped ' : Eyewitness to the massacre in Kiev

This was far more than protesters could have expected before the mass killing , but far less than they wanted afterward . The compromise agreement specified that both sides would cease violence .

Yanukovych 's police seemed to understand what he did not : that this meant the end of his rule . They disappeared from the fight , and ceased to protect him . Yanukovych disappeared . Parliament convened , and in these last few days began a very thorough reform of the entire political system .

On Saturday the protesters gathered again in the hundreds of thousands to mourn their dead and to celebrate what they had achieved . Ukraine is now once again a parliamentary democracy , with presidential elections scheduled for May , and an alert population preserving the peace and watchful of its own newfound rights .

What happened in Ukraine had little to do with the outside world . Yet what happens next will .

Ukraine 's previous authorities were among the most corrupt imaginable . Yanukovych 's son , a dentist , earned at least $ 200 million in the last two years . Yanukovych sat on a toilet of gold -LRB- or two , actually -RRB- in the extraordinary mansion he has had to abandon .

The state , unsurprisingly , is close to bankruptcy . Russia has exercised influence in Ukraine by promising cash : The promise of 15 billion euros preceded the dictatorship laws , the promise of the release of a 2 billion tranche preceded the mass shootings . This sort of conditionality is what caused the revolution . Something else is called for now .

The Ukrainian revolution took place without outside help . Indeed , the men and women of the Maidan , although they want their country inside the West , were extremely disappointed with Western inaction during their revolution .

Now Western financial aid will be needed to transform that revolution into stability . The International Monetary Fund has promised loans , but this is not enough . People who risked death for the values we all claim to treasure , people who have brought a major nation back from dictatorship and to democracy deserve more than loans that will require immediate economic austerity .

They need very significant European and American financial support . This could include loans , quick free trade negotiations , financial institutions that offer microcredits , and visa-free travel for normal Ukrainians -- not just the billionaires .

Ukrainian oligarchs have parked hundreds of millions , if not billions , of dollars in Western banks : some of it , just possibly , illegally . Such accounts could be investigated promptly . Direct financial assistance would have to be conditional upon further reforms that ensure the restoration and the preservation of the rule of law .

This is not some idle choice . The Ukrainian revolution , like any revolution , can fail . There are plenty of Ukrainians who are confused by the revolution or oppose it , and are waiting to see what the new government will bring . Although the European Union , the United States , and China have recognized Ukraine 's new authorities , Russia has not .

Russian propaganda characterizes Ukrainian activists -LRB- depending on its purpose and intended audience -RRB- as fascists , terrorists , or gays . Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has claimed , without any evidence , that Russian citizens in Ukraine are under threat . That is the classical justification for intervention . Russian parliamentarians are now in Crimea , promising Russian citizenship to ethnic Russians there and suggesting that Russia will support a referendum on the detachment of Crimea from Ukraine and its attachment to Russia .

On the other side , among the revolutionaries are radicals who may not be satisfied by the compromises that end any revolution . Their main motivation was the end of Moscow 's influence in Ukraine , and so they can be provoked . Compromise will be possible in a state that is financially stable . In one that is not , Russian policy might provoke nationalists , and conflict can begin again .

The cause of the Ukrainian protesters was not to change the world , but only to change their world . What they wanted was normality , predictability , the ability to live their lives the way they chose .

They wanted , in other words , the things that most of us take for granted . But now that their revolution has come , the world faces certain important choices . If we do n't understand the revolution in Ukraine , then we miss something special and unusual : a chance to support democracy .

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Timothy Snyder : We 're witnessing an extraordinary event , a revolution in Ukraine

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He says Ukraine 's population did not run away from regime 's violence , but stood firm

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Ukrainians do n't want to accept a Russian-style regime in return for Russian money , he says

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Snyder : The West now must provide financial and other support for Ukraine 's democracy